


Almost Doesn't Count

by Salmon_I



Series: To the Moon and Back [13]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Confessions, Drinking, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Government Conspiracy, Humor, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-01-23 13:11:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18550453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salmon_I/pseuds/Salmon_I
Summary: “Jesse Manes has a lot of influence here in Roswell, but he can’t walk into an autopsy and take it over - he wouldn’t know how to do one.”  Cam spoke up.  “There may be no Jane Holden, but somebody did those autopsies for him.  Replaced those autopsies for him.”“Someone at the morgue is in my father’s pocket, too.”  Alex translated.“He tried to recruit me, he recruited Cameron.”  Kyle listed.  “How many people in town are working for Jesse Manes?”“Probably some of the soldiers on base, too.”  Alex finished the thought.  “But nobody else has been by this bunker - nobody else was even in the system to get in.  Which means he met his contacts all somewhere around town, or-”“There’s another base of operations.”  Cam supplied.





	1. Chapter 1

If Liz’s calculations were correct, almost six weeks had passed since Michael was placed into the pod. She knew, unfortunately, that she was correct. Despite them combing the records that were in the Project Sheppard Bunker, and both Max and Isobel submitting themselves to a ton of tests by both Kyle and herself, every new serum yielded the same result. Which meant no results. It was frustrating on both a personal and professional level.

She and Kyle probably knew the most about alien biology than any other person in the medical field had since the original crash. Maybe even more since they had live, willing patients. All that new information should be getting her somewhere. That it wasn’t made her want to scream and weep simultaneously. It didn’t help that both Max and Alex kept sending her hopeful looks whenever the subject came up, which quickly become crushed when she admitted her lack of progress. Isobel managed to maintain composure for most of the time, but she’d also heard she started to visit the pod cave more often as the weeks passed.

She was probably in good company, seeing as she was pretty sure Max and Alex had been spending way too much time there. She was also pretty sure Alex has some sort of perimeter sensor set up, with alerts going directly to his phone. He seemed to know who had been there and when. She wondered if that meant he also had a camera there, but she was not sure if it would be possible to get satellite service inside a mine. Not her specialty, and heck, if it helped Alex sleep at night she was not calling him on it. She wished something would help her sleep at night.

When Max was her guinea pig of the day they talked. They talked about anything and everything. Books, movies, the UFO festival, the broken water pipe that shut down Bean Me Up the last week; the foods she has been trying to get her father to try eating. They recounted old stories from their school days - some she’d never heard that involved Max and Michael or Max, Michael, and Isobel altogether. They talked about favorite holidays, favorite songs, that Max still couldn’t dance, and one morning she brought her healthy churro pancakes and they spent the entire morning talking about how horrible they were. She was afraid of what would happen if they stopped talking. She was afraid Max would remember this was all her fault. That she had allowed her anger turn her into someone she didn’t want to be, and one of the people he loved the most had paid the price. She was afraid to think about the fact that Ophiuchus was still out there, and they didn’t know who they were, or what they wanted, or who they’d come for next. That maybe it was her digging things up that made them reappear after ten years.

Liz was afraid, so she pulled her armor of facts around her. Alien biology facts, and facts about Max, and the facts about her serum and the antidote she was creating, and tried not to think. Tried not to feel.

Maria was the one who broke her out of the cycle. Who showed up to her lab with a flyer, and asked her to come with her to Texas. Because life hadn’t stopped outside of her lab, and Maria had her own non-alien problem. So far none of the information they’d scoured through in Project Sheppard hinted of Mimi’s involvement at any time - which was both a relief and not given it still left her best friend with no answers. The last thing either expected was to pull up to the Faith Healer’s tents and find Max and Isobel there.

“Liz.” Max greeted first.

“Max.” Funny how they had spent so much time talking lately, and yet that was the best greeting they suddenly both had to offer.

“Please tell me this isn’t an alien thing.” Maria interrupted as they met up in the center row of the parked cars.

“Max thinks it's an alien thing. I think he needs his head examined.” Isobel volunteered.

“What sort of alien thing? The healer?” There had to be more to it than that. She’d seen plenty of advertisements for Faith Healers, and she was pretty certain Max hadn’t chased after each one over the years.

“Remember the symbol we talked about? The one Wyatt drew after what happened? The one Michael was drawing when we were young?”

“The tattoo on your shoulder.” Liz nodded.

“You’ve seen him without his clothes on?” Maria broke in, voice innocent.

“Yes-NO!” Liz turned to her. “Just the shirt. For scientific purposes.”

“Yeah, it looked very scientific.” Isobel opinioned.

“I was monitoring his heart rate.”

“Was it up?” Isobel fluttered her eyelashes.

“Isobel.” Max hissed under his breath.

“I’m getting lemonade.” Maria spoke up, walking away.

“I’d rather be with wannabe Jeane Dixon than watch the painful art of you two making small talk, so...” Isobel followed after the other woman.

“Sorry about Iz.” Max looked embarrassed.

“To be fair, Maria started it.” Liz brushed her hair out of her face - more in a nervous reaction than anything. Once again she was struck with how odd they were being after spending so much time talking in her lab. Perhaps it had become a safe space to discuss in. Away from the pressures of what it meant in their regular lives. “So, what about the symbol?”

“This woman used it on her flyers.”

“You think she might be another alien?”

“Trying to reserve judgement til I see more. I brought the symbol up to Michael after I talked to my mom about it, though. Before…” He trailed off for a moment, then restarted - skipping words were meant to go in between. Probably for both their sakes. “He thought it might be a beacon. So I told Isobel we should follow it.”

Liz nodded. It made sense. Her vague memory of it on his shoulder hadn’t been enough to recognize it on the flyer Maria had shown her. Iconography was hardly a hobby of hers, though. “It’s good that you're still searching for answers.”

“I promised Michael I would.”

To that Liz didn’t know what to say. She knew Max was in pain, but she didn’t know how to comfort him. The timing never seemed right.

 

* * *

 

  
The Mineshaft Tavern was like every small town bar in the southwest. Too much wood, kitschy southwest decor, and a live band of questionable talent. Maria and Isobel set the drinks down on their table. “Drink up.” Isobel instructed, taking a seat.

The day had proved to be a disappointment all around. Isobel had insisted on being the one to go into the tent with Maria for her consultation. They had been quoted the ridiculously high price of fifteen thousand dollars to heal Maria’s mother’s mind. Maria got up to leave, but Isobel had told her to stay, before using her powers and delving into Arizona’s mind. Under Isobel’s influence she had confessed that she had no powers, and the man from the stage was an actor she paid to sell her supposed abilities to the audience. She knew nothing personally of what the symbol meant. She hadn’t made the flyer - one of the others who traveled with her had.

Maria had stormed off to find a bar, and the rest of them had followed. As Maria and her picked up their glasses to clink with Isobel’s she noted that Max had yet to sit down.

Isobel noted it as well. “I know you aren’t pregnant, Max, so...” She pushed the glass closer to him.

“Do you know that?” Maria spoke up. “I mean, I don’t remember finishing that conversation about the period thing.”

“I’m just tired.” Max excused. “I’m going to get some water.”

As he walked off Isobel sighed. “He still feels guilty about Michael, so to have something resembling fun while he’s in stasis.” She shrugged, downing part of her drink.

“Why does he feel guilty?” Liz asked. She had plenty of guilt of her own over how Michael had ended up in stasis. From creating the serum to being the one he was protecting when Ophiuchus used it on him. Max hadn’t even been there.

“Because he’s Max, and he would find a way to make it his fault if it rained unexpectedly during a picnic.” Isobel offered. Pulling out an acetone bottle from her purse, she mixed it in with her glass before raising it in another toast. Liz copied her and took a drink from her own glass.

“Turns out my mom is gonna lose all her memories by the time she’s fifty.” Maria broke in. “Arizona’s a thief. I’ve been stuck with Regina George all day, and Max is moping? No. Absolutely not.” She stormed off.

Isobel looked after her with concern, and turned to Liz. “Shouldn’t you follow her?”

“Nope.” Liz shook her head, eyes on where she could see Maria heading toward the stage.

“Isn’t that breaking the friend code or something?”

“Nope.” She smirked proudly as Maria’s voice suddenly came over the speakers.

“What’s up, Texas?” She had taken over the microphone on the stage. “I’m having a crappy day. So, I’m gonna forget all about it. Join me, will ya?”

“Maria DeLuca is her own savior. Every damn time.” Max returned to the table as Maria began to sing. Liz gave a cheer, before turning to where Max was watching her friend sing. “Hey, you wanna dance?”

“Uh… I’m good.” Max still looked upset, but it was clear he wasn’t ready to share.

“Okay. Your loss.” Liz told him, before turning to his sister. “You a better dancer than your brother?”

“Everyone’s a better dancer than Max.” Isobel told her.

“Come on.” Liz stood up, pulling on Isobel’s arm to take her to the dance floor with her.

Isobel wasn’t lying about being a better dancer, and Maria wasn’t lying about refusing to let Max mope. Watching as her best friend dragged Max into their fun, not caring one bit about his reluctance. Watching as Max stumbled through the words to the song and proved he wasn’t a much better singer than dancer was going to be a favorite memory of hers. One she would cherish in the weeks ahead.

 

* * *

 

  
She knew the jalapeno room didn’t suck. Well, it did suck. It was kitschy on a level that was disturbing. The bed wasn’t that bad, though, so that wasn’t what was keeping her up. Somehow she wasn’t surprised when she left the room to wander around and found Max up as well. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“No, you?”

“Couldn’t get comfortable.” She admitted. “How’s the Alamo?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll remember it.” Max joked.

She couldn’t help but smile as she took the swing next to him. The jokes and small talks were covering up other issues, though. The night was surprisingly quiet around them, and she didn’t want to keep talking about the small things. “I’m sorry you didn’t get what you came here for.”

“Shouldn’t have let myself become a hoping kind of person.” Max confessed. “I don’t know. I just keep thinking that I wish there was someone out there who could relate.”

“You have Isobel, right? You’ve both mentioned your connection.”

“We can sense each other all the time. For me, Isobel is this warm presence I’m never without. And we can call to one another - speak to one another - even over fairly large distances. With Michael it’s harder. The feeling has to be intense, and he has to be near us - or we can’t feel anything. When it comes to what we can do individually, it’s different for Isobel - and for Michael. My gift can be a hell of a burden.” Max took a deep breath before he continued. Liz had a feeling he’d never told anyone what he was telling her now. “Honestly, I’ve wondered if I shouldn’t do what Arizona purports to do. If I’m wasting this thing.”

“When you heal people, it makes you sick, Max.” She couldn’t help but remind him. Suddenly she remembered the moment they’d spoken in the church. When he’d told her how things in the religious texts never ended well for those who could make miracles with their hands. She didn’t want that end for Max.

“Yeah, but maybe it wouldn’t if I practiced more.” Max argued, only to deflate a moment later - the argument going out of him. “Since I joined the force, I have seen five civilians die. Jeff Gretchen - heroin overdose. Hayley Spire - gunshot to the stomach. Frankie Vallette was a car wreck and Walter Inman threw himself off the JP White building. And then you. You’re the only one I saved. I was afraid of exposing myself, so I… I don’t know.” He shrugged, but the meaning was clear. The guilt he felt was clear.

“Not saving someone isn’t the same as killing them.” If it was ironic to be passing on the bit of wisdom Kyle had lectured her with only a couple days ago, it also felt right.

“Do you really believe that?” Max sounded doubtful.

“I’m trying to.” She returned.

“The problem with having a superpower, right?”

“Yeah. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.”

“Henry IV.”

“Part 2.” Funny how something like that could stick with you, so many years later. Being around Max had always been easy. He could always make her smile. That had been the night she realized she didn’t want to lose that from her life. In the end she had, and yet they’d ended up right back here again.

The chill in the air made her shiver, and Max stood, pulling off his jacket. He paused in front of her. “May I?” Liz nodded, feeling warmth bloom that had nothing to do with the jacket he placed around her shoulders, and everything to do with Max himself. “I want to thank you again. For everything you're doing for us. Even with everything we’ve learned, we still are responsible for hiding the truth ten years ago-”

“You were kids in an impossible circumstance with no one to turn to.” Liz cut him off. “I would do anything for my sister. So how can I hate you for a moment of desperation? I’m not angry at you for that, Max. I’m upset at myself. For how I reacted. For letting my fury make me a person I’m not.”

“You learned your sister was murdered, Liz. Of course you were angry.”

“I’d been angry for ten years.” She confessed to him. “I never let myself forgive Rosa when I thought she was guilty. Even years later, older than she ever got to be when I should have looked back and realized how young she was, how vulnerable…” She shook her head. “My father forgave Rosa. Maria forgave Rosa. I held onto the anger, because if I let it go, then I would feel the grief. Then I would have to let her go, and I wasn’t ready to. I don’t think anyone is ever ready to.”

“Probably not.” Max confessed, and she knew his thoughts were wandering toward Michael again.

Max wasn’t going to lose his brother, though. She’d made that promise to Isobel. Ophiuchus wasn’t taking Michael like they’d taken Rosa. Her mixed anger and grief was only part of it all, though, and she wanted him to know the full truth. She stood up, drawing his attention back to her. “I don’t trust people, Max. I don’t think people are inherently good. But I believed you were. So when you lied to me, it broke my heart. I was angry at myself for letting that happen.”

“It’s not your fault that I let you down.”

“But that’s the thing. I still believe you’re good.” She let those words sit between them. Max's faith in himself had obviously taken some hits in the recent months. She hoped her words would bolster him. A part of her wanted to reach out with more than words, but it didn't feel like the right moment. For either of them. Pulling his coat off her shoulders, she handed it back to him. “Good night Max.”

“Good night.”

Maybe she'd get some sleep tonight.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite stealing most of the conversation from the show, this was hard to write. Liz is not an easy character for me POV wise. Writing her in someone else's scene I can do far more easily than trying to get in her head. This is my only Echo piece so far, and it kind of fails. I needed this chapter for set up, though. I have one other Echo piece planned later in the series, and I will try harder to give you guys something better.


	2. Chapter 2

“Is there a reason you're following me around?” Maria asked Isobel as she wrapped a blanket around herself to ward off the nighttime desert chill. Of all things to happen on the trip to Texas, spending most of her day with Isobel Evans-Bracken had not even occurred to her as a possibility when she left Roswell.

“We’re at a dive bar in the middle of nowhere Texas, I’ve been hit on by five guys who apparently don’t know what a wedding band looks like, and my brother is currently composing sonnets about your best friend with his eyes. That makes you the safest option.” Isobel responded, even as she came to stand next to her.

“Flattering.” Maria commented.

“Do you have another blanket or not?”

Maria pulled another blanket out from the back of her truck and tossed it at her. “Happy?”

“Thrilled. Why are you out here?”

“Just needed some air.”

“You literally own a bar, and you expect me to believe you needed air after less than four hours in one?”

Maria shot her an annoyed look. “What do you want me to say? That I’m pissed at the world and watching my best friend potentially get some from your brother isn’t helping my mood?”

“Ick.” Isobel complained, leaning against the back of her truck. “Please refrain from mentioning my brother’s sex life.”

“You’re the one whose sex life is the hot town gossip.”

“That’s because my husband is sex on legs and they’re all jealous.”

“...He is pretty sexy.” Maria admitted.

“Damn right he is.”

“So, why don’t you want kids with him?”

“Why are you mad at the world?” Isobel quickly countered.

She was good at evading answers. Almost as good as Maria was herself. Maria had blamed Isobel for so long for what happened to Rosa - the part of her that hadn’t blamed herself for letting her take the liquor bottle from the bar. Finding out the truth had hurt as much as it helped, because maybe she still could have prevented things from going south if she’d talked to Rosa more. Of course, there was also a very real chance she could have joined Ophiuchus’ victims as well. Isobel was one of those victims. Maria couldn’t imagine what it was like to know her own hands had taken lives against her will. The idea of her body moving without her consent, taking actions she could do nothing to prevent was horrifying.

It was true that Isobel had not been a good person when they’d known each other in high school. Still, that was ten years in the past. She didn’t know who Isobel was in the present. Only gossip and rumors.

“I’ve taken my mother to dozens of doctors, she’s submitted herself to every test - the same tests over and over because the last test was three years ago, a year ago, six months ago so “maybe something’s changed”. We’ve spent thousands of dollars we don’t have, and every single one says the same damn thing. The tests are negative. The tests are inconclusive. Maybe she's faking her illness. Faking, right, because I totally want to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on you telling me you don't know what's wrong." Getting it off her chest didn't feel uplifting. Instead she wrapped the blanket tighter around herself as she was forced to face the futility of it all over again. It hurt, it still hurt, and there was no light at the end of the tunnel. No getting better.

"I'd be mad, too."

It was in the fact that she didn't say the obvious words - the I'm sorry or the that's terrible - that Maria found a small connection. "What about you? Aliens not have periods?"

"Since you're so interested, De Luca, yes, I do. PMS, too. Don't come between me and my chocolate."

"Trust me, it would be a battle to the death." Maria smirked, and Isobel let out a laugh and for a moment it was quiet.

"We don't know anything about our biology." She finally confessed. "I remember sitting in biology class back in school and thinking - is this what I look like inside? And now… you saw the photos. I may have this glowing thing inside me, and maybe it’s my stomach or maybe it’s my uterus. I mean, how does that even work?”

“I’m guessing that’s meant to be rhetorical.” Maria glanced over at her. Neither she or Isobel were doctors, or biophysics experts - so what kind of answer was she expecting?

“No, it’s not.” Isobel shook her head. “I don’t know how my biology works. I mean, everything seems to work human, but we also drink acetone. We never get sick. So how do I know what a pregnancy will be like? What if I lay eggs? Or glowing pods?”

“I don’t think you’re going to lay eggs, Mother Goose.” Maria couldn’t stop the amused smile. They may be aliens, but she was pretty sure Isobel wasn’t about to pop out egg babies. Most of their body functions seemed very human.

“You don’t know that. Nobody knows that.”

“I mean, okay, we don’t for sure, but does that sound reasonable to you?”

“Oh, and another thing!” Isobel started to pace, apparently too caught up in her panic to be slowed down. “How long will a pregnancy take? I mean, other animals don’t carry babies for nine months, right?”

“Well, I don’t think only having to carry a baby six months or something sounds like a bad thing. I’m kind of envious.”

“Yah, but it might also be longer. Can you imagine that? What if I’m pregnant for like, two years or something?”

“Okay, that sounds horrible.”

“And I mean, if I don’t lay eggs, and I carry it, what about birth? Will that be normal? Will that be a glowing orb? What if all alien births are supposed to be delivered by cesarean section?”

“Oh! And what about that scene in Men in Black? You know, with the alien birth and the tentacle?” Maria suggested. Isobel shot her a glare. “Personally I’d pay to see Valenti or one of your brothers get tossed around by a giant tentacle. Plus, the squid baby was cute. Hey, what if it’s a squid baby?”

“Are you enjoying this?” Isobel demanded.

“Do you see how ridiculous you sound?” Maria countered.

“It’s not ridiculous when I don’t know anything.” Despite her words, Isobel slunk back to lean against the truck with her again.

“You’ve thought about this. A lot.”

“Mm-hmm.” Isobel nodded in agreement.

Something was tugging at her psychic senses. She studied Isobel’s face, waiting for the tugging to lead her thoughts in the right direction. She let her mind wander, let the thoughts flow through her. “You do want babies. But because Noah didn’t know the truth, all these random thoughts of alien pregnancy quirks has held you back.”

Isobel glanced at her, frowning. “Don’t pull your fake psychic shit on me, Miss Cleo.”

“It’s not fake.” Maria wasn’t disturbed by the insult like she might have been. She could see it now for the defense mechanism it was. “Your husband knows now, though. It’s not alien quirks holding you back. It’s not the worry about giving birth to freaks or egg babies. You’re worried… you won’t be a good mother.”

“Stop it.” Isobel insisted angrily.

Maria pulled back, noticing that Isobel was shaken by her words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. Sometimes I just sense things.”

“I’ve never met a human with real powers.” Isobel told her. “I went to a few psychics with friends when I was a teenager, but they were all like Arizona. Frauds.”

“Mine are real. My mom’s are even stronger… were even stronger. When she was healthy.”

“You’re really close with your mother.”

“Aren’t you?”

“...I love my mom, but there’s so much I can’t tell her. I couldn’t tell her all my concerns about alien babies cuz she doesn’t know she adopted an alien. So I’d lie and pull away, when all I wanted was to have her hold me and tell me it was okay.”

“You’ve never told her?” Maria was surprised. She couldn’t imagine keeping such a big secret from her mother. Isobel shook her head. “Wow. I’m sorry. My mom was my hero, I can’t imagine hiding such a large part of myself from her.”

“I had Max and Michael but they were such-such-”

“Boys?”

“Boys.” Isobel confirmed. “I couldn’t talk to them about alien egg babies either.”

A piece of the puzzle that was Isobel Evans slid into place. Max and Michael at least had each other to talk to about what being an alien preteen or teenager had been like. Isobel had had no one - not even her mom. “Well, you’ve got me and Liz now.” Maria told her. “So you can talk to us about alien egg babies.” The hopeful look Isobel threw her way made Maria want to hug her.

“I read your mind.” Isobel blurted out the confession.

Maria paused, confused. “Just now? I was concentrating on you, so-”

“At the bar. The night you read my palm - the night I passed out. I read your mind.”

“So like you did with Arizona?” Maria was interested now. “How does that work? Do you pick up random facts? Emotions?”

“It’s not… I don’t sense random things about people. I can’t… look at a person and know things. I have to go to their mental landscape, and ask questions.”

“So it isn’t just… a tugging? Random thoughts?”

“No, it’s like, the world is there but not there? It’s faded, and blurred and it’s just me and the person I’m reading the mind of. People can’t lie to me there. Not like the real world.”

This was who Isobel really was. Not a Mean Girl. Not a Stepford Wife. Someone who was deeply afraid of the world around her all the time. Who buried the fear beneath the armor of a mask of perfection. “Why would you read my mind?”

“I wanted to know why you hated me.”

“Why would that have been so important that you had to use your powers on me?”

“I was practicing my powers that night. So I decided to practice on you when we fought because… I’m not a nice person, but I’m not a bad person. I mean, Hank is a racist asshole. He helped beat up Arturo Ortecho. Yet you were nice to him. What could I have done that was so bad to make you hate me?”

“Did I tell you?”

“You said Rosa hated me. I didn’t understand why. I barely knew Rosa. When you showed me the memory -”

“Showed you the memory, wait, you can see people’s memories?”

“I’ve only tried it a few times. Mostly with Max or Michael. I’ve never passed out before, though. I hadn’t used my powers in a long time, and I’d been using them on Hank-”

“Can you make a person recall their memories?” Maria suddenly latched onto her arm. A sudden idea coming to her. “Can you make them forget them?”

“I mean, I can make them think about something. A particular night, or strong memory. Or care less about something, if they have doubts already. But forgetting, that’s - I can’t change what they know or want, only influence.”

“Influence how? Like Hank and the weird drinks? You told him to buy them so he did?”

“I can’t control, I’m not like Ophiuchus. I can influence. Kind of… give a push. Either consciously or subconsciously, it has to be something they actually want.”

“So, Hank...?”

“He’d always been curious what the drinks tasted like, but he would never order them because his conscious mind believed it wasn’t a ‘Man’s Drink.’ Our conscious minds make our decisions for us. We follow the rules, we worry about our reputations, we adhere to certain principles. Inside our subconscious, though, there’s wants we don’t express. Desires we don’t give into. I can push. I can encourage someone to forsake the conscious concerns and just… go with it. But I can’t make them do something they’ve never thought of, never wanted.”

“That sounds like a slippery slope.” Maria frowned, remembering times in high school when people just seemed to… give in when Isobel was concerned. Not fight her over things. She released her hold on the other woman’s arm.

“When I was younger, I just used it on whoever. I didn’t care. People weren’t safe, y’know? Devils appear in the night to drag you to hell.”

Maria’s eyes snapped up to Isobel’s - but her eyes were far away. The words drug against her psychic senses. That wasn’t a random reference. It was a specific one. Something dark, and horribly frightening. Something that made the hair on her arms stand on end.

“My first boyfriend? Chad from the basketball team? When I went in his head the night I lost my virginity to him, he told me he lied to me about loving me so I’d have sex with him. I don’t think he ever could figure out what he did that made me slap him and leave. People just… People were rotten, and liars, and… I thought my power gave me an edge. I just wanted to be safe. I wanted us all to be safe. After what happened, though, after Rosa, Jazmin, and Kate. After Liz and Max, I realized - our powers can hurt people. So I stopped using my powers. For ten years, I never looked at another mind again.”

“So why did you start again?”

“Liz was studying Max. Michael and I thought she was dangerous. So I went into her head, but she was too strong. I couldn’t influence her. I thought I was out of practice, but I think she’s just changed. She’s firmer in what she wants. I can’t change someone’s mind if the conscious and subconscious are in accord.”

“But Ophiuchus can control. Do you think they could make someone forget things? Lose their memories?” An idea was forming in her mind. A possibility that wasn’t possible back when she thought aliens were just in the movies.

“We really don’t know what other aliens are capable of. It’s always just been us.”

“Could you make someone remember something that they didn’t remember clearly? Maybe jog their memory? Things they’ve forgotten for some reason?”

“I’ve never tried.”

“Would you be willing to?”

Isobel slowly connected the dots. “Your mom. You said she was losing her memories.”

“And the doctors don’t know why. She wanders sometimes. She talks about aliens constantly. Maybe she saw something that Ophiuchus didn’t want her to see.”

“I can try.” Isobel admitted, and Maria felt a new hope flutter dangerously in her chest. “But I think I should practice. I’m out of practice already, and memory recall wasn’t something I did regularly even when I wasn’t.”

“You can practice on me.” Maria offered immediately. To help her mother she was more than willing to be a guinea pig.

“Maria-”

“Let’s do it. We can go out to the desert and-”

“No.” Isobel interrupted so fast, it brought her up short. “Not the desert. Just... Are you sure you want to do this tonight?”

She was deflecting again, but Maria let her. They’d barely had a civil conversation until now - being hesitant to talk to her about bad memories was alright. They’d have time later to break down more walls. She was about to let her into her head. Trust was going to have to be required. Pulling down the tailgate, she gestured to the inside. “No time like the present.”

“You’re the last person I expected to ever climb into the back of a truck with.” Isobel was already climbing inside despite the quip.

“I was the best looking one in that bar and you know it.” Maria returned in kind as she climbed in as well.

  
_To Be Continued…_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late. The season finale was just, whoa. I couldn’t think of anything else for awhile. I have to remember to switch my tags to AU for this whole series. I had this fic set up for Nobel (still sad on losing that ship in canon. In the end Noah was just so crazy and evil. Yikes.), so despite the joke at the end, there will be no Maribel in this fic. I was a bit worried about my Ophiuchus plot, but the show went even darker with Caulfield, so I’m not worried anymore, and the reveal about it isn’t far off. I only have 4 more pieces left to my series planned, thought they’re almost all multichapter. Going to try to get this out faster so I can work on other things during the hiatus. Before season 2 kidnaps my muse again.


	3. Chapter 3

“You know, I knew something weird was going on, but “Max Evans is an alien murderer” wasn’t top of my list.”  Cam was more than grateful for the drink Alex Manes deposited in front of her.

“Just out of curiosity, what was?”

“I don’t know.  Wizard murderer?”  Cam offered, downing the drink in one gulp.  To be honest, glowing handprints on bodies were well out of the realm of comprehension.  As was lightning strike marks on electrical boxes in hospital basements.  She didn’t recall any glowing handprint lores among the UFO Emporium tour she’d taken once and once only when she first came to town.  So what was she supposed to think?

“Max isn’t any kind of murderer.”  Kyle Valenti offered her, which seemed surprising considering she was pretty sure the two of them hated each other.  If Kyle was vouching for Max Evans, he had to be in the clear.

“No, he’s not.”  Alex seconded. “My dad is a bigot with no moral compass. Nothing he says about anyone should be taken as truth.”

“Why is everyone in this town in love with Max Evans?”  Kyle asked no one in particular, emphasizing her previous thought on his relationship with her partner.

“We both know angsty nerd isn’t my type, even if he is tall.”  Alex was clearly reminding him of something he already knew, which Kyle was quick to respond to.

“No, your type is angry cowboy.”

One and one was two, and even if all she really wanted to do was drink the rest of the bottle on the table and not process the fact that her partner and ex-hook up was an alien, she couldn’t.  “I take it Michael Guerin is not missing?” She broke in.

“Wait, what?”  Alex turned to her.  “Someone filed a missing person report on Michael?”

“One of the ranchers.  Says Michael and he have a yearly contract to fix his things before the harvest.  That Guerin has never missed a year and would never leave him high and dry.  Valenti tried to say that he wasn’t reliable, and got an earful of how he didn’t have to take some prejudice bullshit from a cop because one of his workers had a minor criminal record.  Guerin was his most reliable mechanic ever, and nobody had seen him in weeks - including not giving his two week notice at Sander’s Auto.  That it was well past the necessary time limit needed to file a missing persons report.”

“Shit.”  Alex groaned.

“So, Michael Guerin is an alien, too?”

Kyle and Alex exchanged a look, but it was Kyle who finally answered.  “Yes, and the short of it is he’s also very ill.  He couldn’t go to a hospital because-”

“He’s an alien.”  Jenna supplied.  This wasn’t just a minor shift of view.  This was world-rattling.  Aliens existed, and she’d been working alongside one and regularly dragging one to the drunk tank.  She’d think this was a dream, but she was pretty sure she’d never had a dream this wacky.  “How the hell am I going to deal with this case?”

“Does Max know about it?”  Alex asked her.

“He’s out of town.  Road trip to Texas with his sister.”

Kyle’s phone vibrated, and he grabbed it up to read the text.   “My admin buddy got back to me.  Cameron was right. There is no Dr. Holden in Roswell. There never was.”

“So Holden is a farce that Project Shepherd used to just keep this quiet.” Alex sighed.

“But why?  I thought the whole purpose of Project Shepherd was to combat the alien menace.  That’s the way Jesse Manes sold it.”  Kyle pointed out.

“Actually, Project Shepherd began as a cover-up to keep America from learning about aliens and descending into fear and chaos.  My father was continuing that part of it, it seems.”

“Jesse Manes has a lot of influence here in Roswell, but he can’t walk into an autopsy and take it over - he wouldn’t know how to do one.”  Cam spoke up.  “There may be no Jane Holden, but somebody did those autopsies for him.  Replaced those autopsies for him.”

“Someone at the morgue is in my father’s pocket, too.”  Alex translated.

“He tried to recruit me, he recruited Cameron.”  Kyle listed.  “How many people in town are working for Jesse Manes?”

“Probably some of the soldiers on base, too.”  Alex finished the thought.  “But nobody else has been by this bunker - nobody else was even in the system to get in.  Which means he met his contacts all somewhere around town, or-”

“There’s another base of operations.”  Cam supplied.  It made the most sense.  Jesse Manes was too smart to keep all his eggs in one basket.  At least she could be relatively assured in knowing coming to this bunker hadn’t given her away to Jesse Manes.  She was also glad she’d had the foresight to pull Manes over out of town.  She’d guessed there was a chance someone was assigned to watch her as she’d been assigned to watch Alex, but this confirmed it.

“That’s why the file is empty.  It’s not destroyed.  He moved it.”

“What file?”  When they exchanged another look, she scowled.  “Enough of the meaningful glances - just tell me what the hell you know.”  Alex pulled an empty file folder from the top of a stack on the table, and set it in front of her.  “So what is Project Ophiuchus?”

“We don’t know.  We’ve been looking through files here, and we’ve found it mentioned but not a single detail about what it was exactly.  Who it was, really.”

“Ophiuchus is a person?”

“Ophiuchus is your alien serial killer.”

Cam decided to hell with it, and poured herself another drink.  “You know for certain?”

“Ophiuchus controls minds and-”

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I wish I was, but it’s the truth.  They take people over, and cause them to commit actions they can’t remember.”

The connection was easy enough to make.  “Wyatt Long didn’t kill Grant Green, or try to murder Liz Ortecho, or shoot Max Evans.  Did he?”

“No.  He was being controlled.”

Cam decided now was a good time to down the second drink.  She wouldn’t feel sorry if Wyatt got locked up - he had plenty of offenses over the years he’d gotten away with.  What he’d done to Arturo Ortecho was just the latest of attacks Daddy’s money and the victim’s status had made impossible to pin on him.  So far, though, she had gone from weird murders to alien murders, to mind controlling aliens and she wasn’t sure she was ready for more.  Not that the world seemed to care what she was ready for.

Both her and Valenti’s phones went off at the same time.  “Cameron.”  She picked up, not surprised to hear Sheriff Valenti’s voice on the line.

“Tell me you’re not far from the hospital.”

“The hospital?  I can make it there in about twenty.”

“We have a live shooting.  It’s being evacuated now.”

“I’m on my way.”  She hung up, and saw Valenti doing the same.

“What’s going on?”  Alex asked, glancing between them.

“Shooting at the hospital.  There’s been protests to Liz and Dr Avila’s work there. It might be connected.”  Kyle provided.

“Let’s go.”  Alex nodded at the door.

She was almost in her vehicle when Alex stopped, glancing at his own phone.

“Something wrong?”  Kyle asked him.

“It’s my perimeter alarm around the mine.”  Alex was looking at his phone.  “Somebody tripped it.”

“You have perimeter alarms around the cave with an alert to your phone?”  Kyle was giving him a look that was part exasperation; part questioning his sanity.

“Not the time.”  Alex typed something into the phone. “I have to-”

“Go check on your boyfriend.  We’ll call you from the hospital.”

“You put Michael Guerin in a… cave?”  Cam was beginning to think she should just give up on anything making sense.

“In a pod in the cave.  Alien technology.”  Kyle provided.

Yep, she was officially through trying to make heads or tails of this whole affair.  She was going to do her job, and then get very, very drunk.  Deal with it all in the morning.  “I don’t want to know.  Let’s go.”

\-----

  
“The perp is my barista.”  Cam informed Kyle as she glanced around the burnt remains of what had been a lab.  She still couldn’t believe she was holding a secret meeting with Sheriff Valenti’s son at the hospital, but under the circumstances neither of them had much of a choice.  Not after what she’d learned.  “He works at Bean Me Up.  He draws little UFOs on the foam.”

“Connor Smith?”  Kyle stared at her.  “He’s a pacifist.”

“He doesn’t remember anything.”  Cam provided for him.

“Ophiuchus.”  Kyle supplied.

“Why would a mind controlling alien use somebody to shoot up a hospital and burn a lab?  This lab, specifically?  It’s the only place that was burned.  Your mother suspects a targeted attack, and I can’t disagree, but - what are you doing now?”

Kyle was rooting through the drawers of the lab.  “It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?”

“Liz was working on a cure for Michael.  It’s missing.”  Kyle turned to her.  “Ophiuchus took it.”

Two and two was four.  “And somebody tripped the alarm around the place where Alex Manes said Michael Guerin was.”

“Shit.”  Kyle grabbed up his phone.

“Call him on the way.”  Cam told him.  “I’m driving.”

_To Be Continued…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry for the long delay. Lots of IRL stuff lately has me all over the place. And I am guilty of a lot of binge watching of other shows, too. Plus, this AU is hard to get into the headspace of after the end of S1. I am determined to see this through, I just have to focus… not exactly my strong suite, but I will do my best.


End file.
